Fibre Channel (FC) and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) switches are used in Storage Area Networks (SANs) to route communications between host devices and storage devices. One type of switch includes a distributed switch that divides the switching functions into two separate devices including a controlling device and one or more peripheral devices under the control of the controlling device. The distributed switch defines a domain in which intra-domain links may be made between the controlling device and each of the peripheral devices. A controlling device or a peripheral device, however, cannot link to a peripheral device that is part of a different domain.